Rhythm of Moscow on Delhi’s airwaves

Sept 17 2012

Priyanka Gera

specially for RIR

An Indian radio jockey discovers a jazz-rock fusion band— ‘Impact Fuze’, comprising of musicians from Russia and France.

Russia and Jazz is
an unusual association and expressing the pulse of the Russian capital through
Jazz, even more so. That is how the
band, Impact Fuze started off and they made quite an impact with their fusion
of jazz and rock. They are a power trio comprising of Russians Anton Davidyants
(the bassist) and Feodor Dosumov (the guitarist) who is originally from
Uzbekistan, and French Damien Schmitt (the drummer.)

Recently a popular
radio jockey of Delhi, Sarthak Kaushik discovered their music for his jazz
special show on ‘Hit 95 FM,’ an English music channel. Sarthak, who is a veteran of the national
channel, All India Radio’s western music broadcast, was impressed by the trio’s
dexterity - “They are a fantastic band, with an amazing understanding of music.
Their play is highly nuanced. Feodor’s guitar play is particularly fascinating.
Together they create very powerful music.” His response is just as the band
envisions – ‘incorporating the energy, power and brutality of rock into the
intelligence of jazz.’

Source: YouTube

The album ‘Moscow’
showcases their capacity for variety. “There are up-tempo tracks like Moscow
and Punisher as well as mellower ones like Song for Elena and Lost in Found,”
Sarthak observes, “they’ve straddled an entire progression.” For the title
track they have created a montage of time lapse videos of Moscow. Its skyscrapers and traffic create the
feeling of a city constantly on the go.
This vision developed when Feodor and Anton saw their own town from
Damien’s viewpoint, as he was in Russia for the first time. “Through Damien we
began to understand Moscow all over again. What does the city look like from
another angle? What is covered up, what is revealed? Where does it take you by
spinning in its circles and roundabouts?” The band quotes 20th
century Russian poet Sergei Yesenin – “Great things are better seen from a
distance.”

All it took was a
message through Facebook to connect these musicians. Feodor and Anton’s earlier
band Alkatrio disbanded in 2009 and
they were looking for a new drummer. Anton’s interest in French jazz introduced
him to Damien. “In the beginning it was just an experiment,” Feodor recalls,
“we invited Damien to tour with us because he is an exceptional drummer. We enjoyed
ourselves so much on that tour that we decided to stick together. I think that
there are no random encounters. It was all planned by someone very big!” Damien
also regards Feodor and Anton highly, “they are one of the best of the new
generation. I’ve played with guitarists such as Franck Gambale and Bireli
Lagrene and bassists such as Alain Caron and Richard Bona. Feodor and Anton are
in the same league.”

The band debuted
with a fusion album well knowing that their preferred music style is far from mainstream
and rarely gets radio play in Russia, “we just wanted to share our music and
our feelings with everyone and who knows someday some radio station will notice
us and like our energy” says Damien. Their self belief resulted in a rewarding
experience – “while performing in Russia I was surprised to see that the
audience was very receptive and they could truly appreciate the music. We even
found a producer for a second album which is not an easy thing for fusion
music. In today’s world people understand Lady Gaga more than Frank Zappa.”

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With their next
album they plan to reach a wider audience, “public
needs simple and effective melodies with interesting arrangements so that it
never becomes tiresome.” For now Damien is busy with his own album of dubstep-pop
songs. Feodor is collaborating on this project. A visit to India is also on the
cards. Impact Fuze will be performing in a jazz festival, “The Fusion Carnival”
which will be held in Bangalore next year. They are excited about touring with
their music, which they describe as a puzzle of different music styles. Damien
acknowledges the niche following of jazz in India, “It is fantastic that Indian
radio stations play such variety of music. In Europe or USA our kind of music
is not played much. It would be my first time in India and I am looking forward
to a firsthand experience of Indian culture. Hopefully we’ll gain and keep
returning.”